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Month / March 2013

February was a packed month and March is shaping up to be similar, so here’s a round-up of what’s been going on…

Performance

I had the pleasure of playing with some great groups for the first time this month. The UK Mingus Collective (led by Colin Byrne) performed at Clothworker’s Hall in Leeds as part of the Leeds Uni Jazz Festival in February and it was wonderful to be a part of that. I made my Fusebox debut on Friday, playing with the Bennett Cole Orchestra featuring Corey Mwamba. The band is led by composers Seth Bennett and Laura Cole – beautiful compositions and so full of joy, it was great to play that kind of music to a full and appreciative audience. You can see some photographs taken by Andy Newcombe here.

We were thrilled to find out that Antinomy, my co-led quartet with Riley Stone-Lonergan, are featured on Mo Jazz 2, a new album released by Acid Jazz. Riley’s piece, Pedalo, is on the CD.

Apollo Jazz Network

Our first Apollo group, the Jude Williams group performed in Leeds and Bradford in February. Their next dates are March 17th at Whighams in Edinburgh, and March 18th at the Art School in Glasgow. We’ll be adding recordings from the gigs to Soundcloud soon so stay tuned.

New Apollo band LOCUS is continuing to add new dates to their July tour. We’re excited to confirm that we will be appearing at the Manchester Jazz Festival on July 29th. Keep checking the Apollo page for new gigs being added – LOCUS are attracting a lot of attention already!

Jazz North and Jazz Journalism

My first article was published in The Telegraph this weekend. To promote her European tour, I spoke to the singer Becca Stevens. You can read the article here.

At Jazz North, we’re busy working on events and initiatives to benefit musicians. In April, I’ll be running two “Get More Gigs” events, in Leeds and Newcastle, providing free professional development to jazz musicians. Our speakers include Sebastian Scotney, Sandra Marcy, Barak Schmool and more. Musicians can follow the link above to sign-up, as places are limited and being booked up fast.